FTA welcomes Scottish Government’s continued commitment to freight switch grant

Wednesday 01 June 2011

The Scottish Government’s commitment to protecting the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) – to encourage more companies to consider alternatives to using Scotland’s congested road network to move goods – has been warmly welcomed by the Freight Transport Association (FTA).

Chris MacRae, FTA’s Head of Policy for Scotland, said:

“The latest news that Lafarge Cement UK has used the FFG to invest in the sort of facilities that will enable it to move more goods by rail, instead of road, is great news for Scotland. It shows we were right to fight to protect it and will hopefully encourage other forward-looking and environmentally-conscious companies to look twice at modal switch.”

Following pressure from FTA and key industry leaders, including the bosses of The Edrington Group, The Malcolm Group and Russell Logistics the previous Scottish Government, since re-elected, announced a partial retrenchment on its plans for cutting the grant earlier this year. Modal shift is a hugely important issue given the Scottish Government’s ambitious climate change targets, and FTA worked hard before the election to secure cross-party accord for protecting the FFG.

MacRae concluded:

“The Transport Minister’s support for encouraging more sustainable transport is welcome news at a time when the pressure is really on to improve environmental performance across the country. Wider adoption of the FFG by Scottish businesses will alleviate pressure on our road network and will improve the overall efficiency of the supply chain.”

Notes for editors

In a press release from Scottish Government it was announced that a Freight Facilities Grant funding of almost £130,000 will be used by Lafarge Cement UK to provide enhanced facilities at four locations, enabling it to distribute bagged cement from Dunbar to Uddingston, Inverness and Aberdeen by rail rather than road. This will remove over 3,500 lorry journeys off Scotland's roads
 

FTA Press Office

01892 552255
press.office@fta.co.uk